Kshitigarbha,
ink and colours on a silk banner

This is one of many examples from Mogao of a
painted banner showing a single
bodhisattva
figure under a canopy. The orange cartouche on the left contains an
inscription identifying him as Dizang Pusa, the Chinese name for
Kshitigarbha.

While other
bodhisattvas are usually
shown on the banners from Mogao with long hair and wearing
elaborate Indian jewellery, this figure is clean-shaven and wears
the kashaya, the robe of
Chinese Buddhist monks. Monks were not supposed to have new
clothes, so their outfits were usually made up of patchwork squares
of supposedly old, but often brand new materials. Kshitigarbha is
the only bodhisattva
shown as a monk. He stands on a lotus, as is usual for banner
paintings of
bodhisattvas from
Dunhuang, and holds a
kundika or ritual water
sprinkler.